DOMAINE DE CORDAILLAT Reuilly

Located at the confluence of the Indre and Cher rivers, themselves tributaries of the Loire, the pastures, fields and vines of Reuilly were valued sufficiently to be gifted by King Dagobert to the Royal Abbey of St.Denis in the 7th Century, the vineyards in due course supplying the nearby city of Bourges as well as being shipped to England. In 1365 the Duke of Berry, son of King John II the Good, published a charter relating to the wines of Reuilly, used to determine the harvest dates and the right to collect taxes on the wine trade. Wine production ceased following the Phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th Century, but from the mid-1930s vine growing was gradually re-established, reaching new heights from the 1980s onwards. There are now some 200 hectares under vine, with around 30 producers. Soils are Kimmeridgian limestone marl with outcrops of alluvial gravel, sand and clay, favouring both the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and Gris varieties.

Domaine de Cordaillat was established in 1995, and comprises 10 hectares of vines, 65% of the production in Sauvignon Blanc. The vineyard husbandry is conciously reasoned, with grass grown between the rows and no use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel and left on the fine lees, with some batonnage, until the spring, when they are bottled with all of the bright, lively fruit at its peak. It is refreshing and beautifully harmonious, with a lively mineral streak, and whilst it has an immediate and easy appeal it can comfortably be compared with good Sancerre, against which it offers notable value.

“Reuilly is one of those regions from which we should all drink far more wine; it is not a million miles away from one of the Loire’s most saleable areas, Sancerre, both in distance and flavour, yet costs two-thirds of its fashionable cousin. Classic and pure, this bright, refreshing glass is just the thing for a spring day with the season’s first asparagus.” Hamish Anderson, The Daily Telegraph, on Reuilly, Domaine Cordaillat